(null)Created 10 Dec 2006 at 00:37 UTC by pedro.
Notes: For puzzles!Your spaceship has just crash landed on the moon. You were scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship 200 miles away on the lighted surface of the moon, but the rough landing has ruined your ship and destroyed all the equipment on board, except for the 15 items below.Your crew's survival depends on reaching the mother ship, so you must choose the most critical items available for the 200-mile trip. Your task is to rank the 15 items in terms of their importance for survival (on the moon). Place number 1 by the most important item, number 2 by the 2nd most important, and so on to 15, the least important.
The items:
A box of matches.
Food concentrate.
Fifty feet of nylon rope.
Parachute silk.
Solar-powered portable heating unit.
Two .45-caliber pistols.
Once case of dehydrated milk.
Three 100-pound takes of oxygen.
Stellar map (of the moon's constellations).
Self-inflating life raft.
Magnetic compass.
Five gallons of water.
Signal flares.
First aid kit containing injection needles.
Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter.
GO TEAMS!
Everyone else is welcome to play at home -- please rank these items. After next Sunday, I will post the two teams answers side by side, and after that point you are welcome to post your answers. OR, if you want to join a team, email me today or tomorrow and I'll assign you to a team in progress. But don't delay!
Also, NO FAIR PEEKING. I'll just come out and say it that you can find this puzzle on the Internet, and that will ruin all the fun. Part of the fun is seeing what people come up with independently -- what NASA said were their answers is only half of what's interesting about this.
Enjoy!
who's on my team?
Hold on...
red team: lukas, baggins, blvdgirlblue team: stan, neoacerbitas, bigj
New deadline: send me your answers (one per team) by Tuesday, and I'll post the answers Tuesday night.
You should all have your email addresses from the emails I sent -- please let me know if someone did not get a message.
I should have said something earlier...i'm using finals week as my excuse. I think my brain dribbled out of my ear last night.
bigj has the whole new baby thing going on....am i a team of 1??
neo's out too.
hmmm... i'll join your team, stan. i haven't looked at the answers yet. I'll email you later/tomorrow.
yay!
since if I check my work email I'll be tempted to return messages, and that's not cool.That and I'll be back to work on Monday with time to spare. :)
I think I know both of your email's so I'll send you something in the morning.
should i email you clarification questions? or should i post them on here?
I'll still join BigJ and Stan since neo is out and I haven't seen the "answer". BigJ, email us and we'll write back.
some we had a thought about:do we have self contained space suits? meaning do we need to take the oxygen tanks specifically for breathing, or can we use them for other things?
are we on the dark side? how far to the light side? what is the temperature, and how well do our suits (if we have them) compensate for this temperature?
actually, i think i had better not join a team so that I can answer these questions. so bigJ and stan, you guys are going to have to be on your own. But with your brains, I know you'll do ok!
Ok. Let's say that you could hook the tanks to your suits, but it's conceivable that you could get MacGuyver with with tanks. I will say that the "answer" doesn't really expect you to be MacGuyver.You crash landed 200 miles away from your rendezvous, but you're still on the light side of the moon.
Generally speaking, your suits are insulated.
I need your answers -- then I'll post both teams' answers.
I'll just admit that i couldn't wait anymore and went and looked it up. But I promise i won't say anything. :D
I never heard answers from the red team... I assume it just didn't work out. I'll post everything soon.
The red team is made up of highly distractable procrastinators, but we did put quite a lot of thought into the whole thing initially... We'll finalize our list and get it to you by tomorrow if you're willing to wait...
1. Three 100-pound tanks of oxygen
2. Five gallons of water
3. Solar-powered, portable heating unit
4. Food concentrate
5. Stellar map
6. Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter
7. Signal Flares
8. Parachute Silk
9. Fifty feet of nylon rope
10. First aid kit containing injection needles
11. Magnetic compass
12. One case of dehydrated milk
13. A box of matches
14. Two .45-caliber pistols
15. Self-inflating life raft
1. Three 100-pound takes of oxygen.
2. Five gallons of water.
3. Food concentrate.
4. Fifty feet of nylon rope.
5. Solar-powered FM receiver-transmitter.
6. Parachute silk.
7. Stellar map (of the moon's constellations).
8. Self-inflating life raft.
9. Once case of dehydrated milk.
10. Magnetic compass.
11. Two .45-caliber pistols.
12. First aid kit containing injection needles.
13. Solar-powered portable heating unit.
14. Signal flares.
15. A box of matches.
These may or may not actually be from NASA.1. Two 10lb. tanks of Oxygen -- Most pressing survival requirement.
2. Five gallons of water -- Vital replacement of tremendous liquid loss on the lighted side of the moon.
3. Moon Constellation Map -- Primary means of navigation.
4. Food Concentrate -- Efficient means of supplying energy requirements
5. Solar powered FM transceiver -- For communication with the mother ship on line of sight.
6. 50 ft. Nylon rope -- Useful in scaling cliffs or in case of injury
7. First aid kit with Hypodermic needles -- Needles, medicines, and vitamins fit special suit aperture.
8. Parachute -- Since there is no air on the moon, it would be ineffective as a parachute, but it could possibly be used as a sun shield.
9. Self-inflating life raft -- Although the raft itself would be irrelevant as a flotation device in a waterless environment, the CO2 bottle attached to the raft could be used for propulsion.
10. Self-igniting signal with flares -- Distress signal when mother ship is sighted.
11. 45mm Caliber Pistol -- Even if you're on the best of terms with your travel companions, it's still a possible means of self propulsion.
12. Case of dehydrated milk -- Bulkier duplication of energy source.
13. Portable Heating Unit -- Not needed unless you're planning to venture to the dark side.
14. Magnetic Compass -- Magnetic fields of moon are not polarized, so the compass is useless.
15. Box of matches -- Since there is no air on moon, matches will not burn.As you can see, some of the descriptions of the items are a little different, but you get the idea. If you're curious, or annoyed with these answers, google for some of the items in the list, you'll probably find other versions of this test with other answers. I just think the collaboration and seeing what different people come up with is interesting.
Thanks for playing!